The return statement is perfectly understandable from my point of view. There is nothing tricky|useless thing there if, as presented, most often the result is assigned to an array (or, list variables). If the end result will be assigned to a hash, presence of a fat comma in the left most map may give a hint (to the "non-initiated").

(A few minutes later: Let's try to find out the extent of my ability to write about the usage of fat comma as obliquely as possible.)